The Homunculus is a special pet which assist Alchemist classes in ways such as a support, an instant partymate, or a sacrifice for the player. Alchemist classes must go through the Bioethics Quest to unlock the appropriate skills required to create a Homunculus. After the quest, the passive skill Bioethics will be available to the player and the rest of the Homunculus skill branch will be available through the distribution of skill points.

Types of Homunculus

There are 4 types of Homunculi with various attributes unique to each.

Choosing a Homunculus

"Which Homunculus should I pick?" This is a common question amongst new Alchemists and future Geneticists.

Each Homunculus serves its own purpose that is custom tailored to the players' individual needs. Despite general opinion, players should choose based on their exact situation and not what others tell them to do. This is because every player has different leveling methods and amount of time to invest, so one player might have enough time to invest into leveling an Amistr, while another is just looking for a quick pre-Homunculus S to get their needed support skills.

Comparisons

Lif - more of a novelty character. Its skills are fairly worthless and offer nothing to the player other than a walking speed boost that will be replaced anyways as a Geneticist with Cart Boost. Its attack is low, has no burst attacks, and its healing skill, Healing Hands, does not heal much and is generally not worth using. It is strongly advised NOT to use it as a base, as it generally has no practical use.

Amistr - generally the best base for a Homunculus S but also the second slowest to level and feed due to the lack of offensive skills, and choosing to acquire Blood Lust would require feeding the Amistr to loyal twice. Its Amistr Bulwark skill is very valuable for MVPing later on as it boosts VIT and even offer some defense that can be useful for PvP. Players with A LOT of free time to level and feed a homunculus should go with Amistr, as the payoff in the end will be more than worth it. However, avoid it if spending a longer time leveling and all the extra feeding time does not sound like an ideal situation.

Filir - generally the fastest leveling Homunculus in most situations, and the most helpful for speed leveling a Homunculus S up to the required level for certain skills. The big downside is the lack of VIT, which carries over to Homunculus S, making it quite frustrating sometimes to level due to it dying too much. Another tradeoff is that depending on the Homunculus S chosen, it may not reach high enough VIT for stun immunity. For players with less time to level a Homunculus, Filir is definitely a good choice. Its loyal evolved skill, S.B.R.44, is usually skipped as it is not terribly useful.

Vanilmirth - the in-between solution to Amistr and Filir. It offers the high VIT and Max HP, has a decent offensive skill, but has lower burst attack compared to Filir, making it slower for leveling in some situations. Its Caprice skill can be unreliable, as it picks a random property to use. It is a solid choice though for all players to use as a base, and many players skip the loyal evolved skill, Self-Destruction, as it is not used very often. It is also desirable as a base for a Homunculus S, for players who plan on becoming pure brewers, because Instruction Change increases the brewing success rate.

Obtaining a Homunculus

To obtain a Homunculus, an Embryo is required. These can be purchased from other Alchemists or can be self-made. In order to make an Embryo, an Alchemist must use the skill Prepare Potion with the following materials purchasable from the Al de Baran Material Seller, in the Alchemist Guild

Success rates of creating embryos are affected mainly by the Alchemist's INT, DEX and LUK.

Once an Embryo is obtained, use the skill Call Homunculus to summon a new Homunculus. There is a chance to get 1 of the 4 base Homunculi and another chance to get 1 of the 2 sprites available to each type of Homunculus. Although not completely proven, there is a popular "fact" that the creator of the Embryo's stats play in a role in the probability of summoning each Homunculus.

Homunculus Stats and Skill Points

This article or section needs to be updated.

Homunculus have their own set of stats apart from their masters, these will have a set amount upon summoning and will vary as it levels up. With each level, a Homunculus will receive a certain amount points to each stat (STR, AGI, VIT, INT, DEX, LUK) depending on which type of Homunculus. These stats are invisible under the Homunculus Stat Window (Alt+R). The Homunculus's ATK, MATK, Hit Rate, Critical Hit Rate, DEF, MDEF, Flee Rate, and ASPD will be visible. The Homunculus also gains one skill point for every three levels. Unlike status points, one can apply these to whichever skill one would like.

Evolution

When the Homunculus' Intimacy is Loyal, use a Stone of Sage (simply double click it) to evolve it. There is no level condition in order to evolve it. With evolution, the Homunculus will obtain a random bonus for each of its stats, increased Max HP and Max SP and a new form.

After evolving, the Homunculus' Intimacy resets to 10 (Hate). Once its Intimacy reaches 910 again (1 point before Loyal), a fourth, new skill is unlocked.

Controlling the Homunculus

Manual Functions

Here is a listing of all manual functions with the Default AI. In general, there will be no need for any other manual functions in most Custom AIs.

The AI is the "brain" of the Homunculus. All Homunculus behavior is controlled by an AI script. There is a choice between the use of the default script or a custom script. The default script is both poorly made and simple; the primary problems with the default script are that the Homunculus will either kill steal everything (default AI'ed Vanilmirth and Filir) or will not attack anything at all (default AI'ed Amistr and Lif). Hence it is recommended to write a custom script or use a premade one made by users. To switch between the Default AI and the customized User AI, use the /hoai command. It can also be switched in the Ragnarok Setup program by checking/unchecking the hoai checkbox in the Option tab.

Installing AI

The majority of homunculus users at iRO use the Azzy AI script. Once an AI script is downloaded, go to the default RO directory. This is generally located at C:\Program Files\Gravity\Ragnarok Online\AI. Insert the downloaded AI script into the USER_AI folder and relog or resummon the Homunculus. This should be done every time there is a change in script. While there are infinite possibilities with AI scripts, it is necessary to understand that there are things it can and cannot do. These limitations are what separates it from bots.

Possibilities

Automatically attacking monsters within player's sight range.

Autocasting Homunculus skills, including ground skills.

Different tactics for individual monsters (ex: what priority to attack, using a skill on that monster, etc).

Reading the HP, SP, MAXHP and MAXSP values of the Homunculus or its owner.

Reading the current animation or "motion" other actors are doing (this is buggy when used on the Homunculus itself).

Automatically shut down the Ragnarok Online client using os.exit().

If the owner is being attacked, it logs out after 5 seconds after calling os.exit(). Otherwise it will log out immediately after os.exit() is called.

This may not work on Windows 7 and later, instead producing an error message and hanging the client, but not logging the user out until they click through the error or the server times out the connection.

Impossibilities

Detecting whether other players are in a party with the owner.

Detecting who the owner of another Homunculus is (GetV(V_OWNER, id) returns the owner's ID, regardless of what the second argument is).

Detecting status effects or ground effects.

Identifying skills used, or gathering any other information not listed above.

Having the owner move around (except when autocasting the Castling Skill).

Reading the HP, SP, MAXHP and MAXSP values of someone other than the Homunculus or its owner.

Autocasting any player skills (Disabled after 5-Feb-2008).

Not Allowed

Using a 3rd party program.

Reading in real time the output of the Homunculus TraceAI function, so that one gains a read out on what is around the player (including things that the game client won't show). According to a GM post on the iRO Forums:

"Doing this when monster leveling would not be such a big deal but in PVP/WoE purposes it is a very unfair/unintended thing. Users violating that rule will be suspended."

Feeding the Homunculus or moving the owner around using a 3rd party program.

Players are responsible for the actions of their Homunculi. For example, if the Homunculus kill steals people, then the player is held accountable and may be punished accordingly.

Feeding and Intimacy

Much like pets, Homunculus require feeding. Feed the Homunculus when its hunger is between 11~25 to get 1 full point of Intimacy. Feeding at the other times will give less than a full point and may even reduce the Intimacy. If one forgets to feed the Homunculus, its Intimacy will eventually decrease, and it will leave the master if it goes below zero Intimacy.

Hunger

Intimacy

Starving at 1% ~ 10%

-1

1% ~ 10%

0.5

11% ~ 25%

1

26% ~ 75%

0.75

76% ~ 90%

-0.05

91% ~ 100%

-0.5

The homunculus also display emotes as a way of warning the player. The emotes used are:

Status

Emote

Hunger below 11%

*

Player feeds without proper item

Player feeds at 1% ~ 75%

Player feeds at 76% ~ 90%

Player feeds at 91% ~ 100%

Failed to use skill

Failed to evolve

Intimacy is crucial for evolution, obtaining the final skill, and AFKing. Intimacy has not been proven to affect Homunculus' stat growth. This value is not shown in the Homunculus Stat Window. However, for each interval of Intimacy points the Homunculus has, the window will show:

Intimacy

Status

1 ~ 3

Hate with Passion

4 ~ 10

Hate

11 ~ 100

Awkward

101 ~ 250

Shy

251 ~ 750

Neutral

751 ~ 910

Cordial

911 ~ 1000

Loyal

Manipulating Intimacy

The player dying, the Homunculus dying, or the Homunculus vaporizing does not affect Intimacy. Stressing it (other than using their ultimate skills) is the only way that to lower its Intimacy. One can stress the Homunculus by not feeding it (Hunger < 11) or overfeeding it (Hunger > 75).

Each hour of starving causes the Intimacy to decrease by 18 (3600 seconds per hour / 200 seconds per loss). If the player is away from the computer for a full 24 hours of starving, the Homunculus' Intimacy will decrease by 432. If the player can no longer use Call Homunculus or Homunculus Resurrection, then the Homunculus has left its master for good. However, the master is able to create a new Homunculus.

Experience and Leveling

General Information

The level limit for a Homunculus owned by an Alchemist or Biochemist is 99. Once its master is promoted to Geneticist, the level limit is increased to 150. However, allowing a Homunculus to level higher than 99 is not recommended, as it will gain less HP/SP and stats compared to a Homunculus S, so it is advised to keep the Homunculus Vaporized until after completing the Homunculus S quest.

If a monster is killed by having both the player and his/her Homunculus dealing damage to the monster:

Player gets 105% of the monster's Base Experience. For example, a Sidewinder gives 720 Base Experience. Barring the level diferences, if both the player and the Homunculus participate in the fight, the player will receive 756 experience (720 × 1.05).

Player gets a portion of the monster's Job Experience based on how much damage is dealt by the player (the Job Experience pool is 105% of normal), affected by the level diference.

Homunculus gets a portion of the monster's Base Experience based on how much damage is dealt by the Homunculus, unaffected by the level diference.

Whenever the player dies and the Homunculus' HP is above 80%, it will automatically be Vaporized. Otherwise it will not vaporize and is able to continue to fight, and the player continues to receive Experience from Homunculus, but manual commands cannot be issued.

It's a common mis-conception that when a Homunculus defeats a monster, they get the Job Experience of the monster. In actuality, they get a copy of the Base Experience of the monster, modified by the damage they did to it and how many people attacked it.

Experience gained by a Homunculus' owner from unassisted Homunculus kills can be shared in a party.

Experience Chart

This quest/feature is only available or customized on iRO.Players on other servers should note that some of the following information may not be applicable to their server.

Homunculus movement speed follows the owner's condition when he/she summons it, revive it, or moving map zones. If A Geneticist is under Cart boost the homunculus will also move fast, same when the player get Decrease Agility.

Need confirmations from other players about buff. Some buffs can be casted on homunculus but it's not clear they're affected or not or have similar restriction like Mercenaries

Known Bugs

The Homunculus stat window is now bugged, many of the stats do not represent real values. For instance, ATK is much lower than its actual value.

If the Homunculus was vaporized or killed with a status effect, it will bug up. (It will get immobilized, vanish and it will get the grim reaper, like the one while affected by Curse. Use Vaporize and Call Homunculus to fix this bug).

On iRO, all Homunculus races have been changed to Demi Human for balancing reasons. However, the alternate form of the Vanilmirth is still considered Formless and not Demi Human. Therefore, all Demi Human reductions do not apply versus alternate Vanilmirths. In addition, the Battlegrounds equipment set penalties (damage received is tripled versus non Demi Human monsters) apply for the alternate Vanilmirth because it is not considered Demi Human. This does not apply to Homunculus S, which have the same races that they do on other RO's, because this balancing was seen as unnecessary, now that people do not use Battlegrounds sets.